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In the era of knowledge-based economy, learning to learn and how to learn is crucial, and learning becomes a fundamental process for local development. Knowledge can be divided into two categories as the codified and tacit knowledge. For a local economy, tacit knowledge can not be traded easily as it is local advantages in the globalized age. Geographical proximity makes face-to-face communication essential, and it is important for the interactive learning. In addition, it also needs an institutional milieu that is advantageous to the innovation activities, and then a learning region comes to a fore. In this regard, the study aims to exam a learning region on textile industry with the case study in Tainan area. Via face-to-face interviews of the textile participators, the results show that the textile firms in Tainan area are supported by sharing a common social and cultural background. Social network helps the collective learning more effectively. The innovation activities derive from firms come from firms of supply chain, R&D institutes and business associations. However the connections within the firms of the same business, university and local government are limited, which weakens the learning of tacit knowledge and the creation of the synergy. To strengthen the learning mechanism for institutional thickness and learning region is suggested to the textile cluster in Tainan.

Abstract Networks are a general feature of Taiwan¡¦s industry. Alongside rapid developments in technology, the island¡¦s industrial structure is being transformed; at the same time, new approaches to administration and management are developing. Hi tech industries are playing a vital role in Taiwan¡¦s economic growth, and this thesis aims to uncover the network characteristics of these industries. The thesis uses the extensive literature available today as the source material for analyzing and comparing the industrial and network characteristics of both traditional and hi tech industries. Three important underlying factors are presented in this thesis; together, these factors help to understand the differences between network characteristics in traditional and hi tech industries. Our research into the characteristics of networks in hi tech industries revealed some interesting results. Firstly, we found that these networks are more elastic, and better able to react to changes in the business environment than traditional networks. Secondly, we discovered that job status in hi tech industries is generally less obvious, more equal and more fluid. Thirdly, existing personal connections still play an important role in hi tech industries, but are less important than in traditional businesses. Networks in hi tech industries have inherited many characteristics of the traditional network; however, as the industrial environment has changed, so networks within hi tech industries have developed many interesting characteristics which differ from traditional industrial networks in important ways.

The constellation of the customer base has implications for the company’s future survivability. Within the business-to-business markets, the customer relationships are characterized by technical and organizational interfaces. Understanding the customer relationships and using customer accounting can provide information about how to prioritize among the customers in order to improve short-term and long-term profitability. The framework by Lind and Strömsten (2006) where different customer accounting techniques are related to a typology over customer relationships is evaluated and further elaborated on in this thesis. The empirical findings both confirm the reasoning behind the framework and cause development potential. The relation of customer accounting techniques to different types of customer relationships is mainly confirmed by the study. Regarding the customer typology, the empirical findings bring forth proposed improvements; a grading of the technical and organizational interfaces of the customer relationship types is suggested.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:08:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LeonardoSGR.pdf: 2071138 bytes, checksum: 68ddf1f535ab5dfa9334c250af52a1d6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-29 / The petrochemical industry has as objective obtain, from crude oil, some products with a higher commercial value and a bigger industrial utility for energy purposes. These industrial processes are complex, commonly operating with large production volume and in restricted operation conditions. The operation control in optimized and stable conditions is important to keep obtained products quality and the industrial plant safety. Currently, industrial network has been attained evidence when there is a need to make the process control in a distributed way. The Foundation Fieldbus protocol for industrial network, for its interoperability feature and its user interface organized in simple configuration blocks, has great notoriety among industrial automation network group. This present work puts together some benefits brought by industrial network technology to petrochemical industrial processes inherent complexity. For this, a dynamic reconfiguration system for intelligent strategies (artificial neural networks, for example) based on the protocol user application layer is proposed which might allow different applications use in a particular process, without operators intervention and with necessary guarantees for the proper plant functioning / A ind?stria petroqu?mica tem por objetivo obter, a partir do petr?leo bruto, produtos de alto valor comercial e de maior utilidade industrial para fins energ?ticos. Os processos dessa ind?stria s?o complexos, geralmente operam com grandes volumes de produ??o e em condi??es restritas de opera??o. O controle da opera??o em condi??es ?timas e est?veis ? importante para manter a qualidade dos produtos obtidos e a seguran?a da planta. Atualmente, as redes industriais t?m alcan?ado destaque quando h? a necessidade de se realizar o controle do processo de forma distribu?da. O protocolo para redes industriais Foundation Fieldbus, por sua caracter?stica de interoperabilidade e sua interface com usu?rio organizada em blocos de simples configura??o, tem grande notoriedade dentre o grupo de redes para automa??o industrial. O presente trabalho agrega os benef?cios trazidos pela tecnologia de redes industriais ? complexidade inerente dos processos ligados a industria petroqu?mica. Para tal, ? proposto um sistema para reconfigura??o din?mica de estrat?gias inteligentes (redes neurais artificiais, por exemplo) baseado na camada de aplica??o do usu?rio do protocolo, o qual poder? permitir o uso de diferentes aplica??es em um determinado processo, sem interven??es de operadores e com as garantias necess?rias para o bom funcionamento da planta

Este trabalho propõe o desenvolvimento de um simulador de redes Profibus DP que reproduz o comportamento de uma rede real. A simulação de redes em condições de falha permite aos usuários experimental situações que podem ocorrer em instalações reais, facilitando o treinamento de manutenção e antecipando ações corretivas. O simulador permite o treinamento de usuários que utilizam ferramentas de diagnóstico. Auxilia no estudo do protocolo Profibus DP e também contribui com o desenvolvimento da ferramenta Profidoctor que é um sistema especialista com o objetivo de fazer a análise de problemas de rede. / This work aims development of Profibus DP network simulator that reproduces real network behavior. The network simulation under fault conditions allows experiment situations that may occur in real network installations, helping in maintenance training and corrective actions. This simulator tool helps in diagnostic tool users training, Profibus DP protocol learning and also assists development of new tool Profidoctor: an expert system that will report complete analysis of network problems.

Atualmente a segurança da informação tem sido uma preocupação constante das diversas instituições e países que utilizam recursos computacionais para comunicação e oferecimento de serviços. Métodos de proteção e contramedidas para redes tradicionais são conhecidos e comumente utilizados, tais como firewalls e detectores de intrusões. Para os sistemas de controle e aquisição de dados (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition SCADA) não é diferente. Nos primórdios tais sistemas eram baseados em mainframes e arquitetura fechada, ou seja, dependentes dos fabricantes e consequentemente isolados de outros sistemas. Nos dias atuais os sistemas SCADA estão convergindo cada vez mais para plataformas baseadas em sistemas abertos e com a sua arquitetura fortemente apoiada em conectividade; sendo assim é usual a interligação de tais sistemas com a rede corporativa e em alguns casos com a própria internet. Partindo desse problema e com o atual desenvolvimento tecnológico em que se encontra a área de segurança da informação, é proposta uma metodologia para implantação de sistemas de automação em plantas de tratamento de água com ênfase em segurança e focada em sistemas industriais, utilizando as normas de segurança em automação ISA 99. Adicionalmente é proposto um mecanismo de análise e identificação de eventos maliciosos tendo por base o entendimento do fluxograma e etapas de uma planta de tratamento de água. Nesse sentido, os objetivos do presente trabalho são, em suma, estudar as normas, métodos e metodologias de segurança em sistemas industriais com foco em tratamento de água e propor uma metodologia cujo foco seja a minimização dos riscos de segurança. Para isso é proposto a avaliação de três cenários reais de tratamento de água para que assim seja possível simular os parâmetros de criticidade identificados no fluxograma e etapas do tratamento de água. Para tanto, desenvolveu-se um cenário conectado ao PLC que permitiu simular o comportamento e os impactos, além de um detector de eventos para análise dos resultados. / Currently, information security is a constant concern of the several institutions and countries that use computing resources for communication and service offering purposes. Protection methods and countermeasures for traditional networks such as firewalls and intrusion detectors are known and ordinarily used. The same goes for control systems and data acquisition (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition - SCADA). In the beginning, such systems were based on mainframes and closed architecture, i.e., dependent on manufacturers and consequently isolated from other systems. Nowadays, the SCADA systems converge more and more to platforms based on open systems, with its architecture strongly relied on connectivity; thus, it is usual the interconnection of such systems with the corporate network and, in some cases, with Internet itself. From this issue, and with the current technology development in the information security area, a methodology is proposed to implement automation systems in water treatment plants with an emphasis on security, and focused on industrial systems, using automation safety rules ISA 99. The purpose of this essay is, in brief, to study safety rules, methods and methodologies for industrial systems with a focus on water treatment, and to propose a methodology directed to the minimization of safety hazards. For that purpose, it is proposed the evaluation of three water treatment real scenarios so that it is possible to simulate criticality parameters identified in the flow chart and stages of the water treatment. Therefore, a scenario connected to PLC was developed, allowing the simulation of the behavior and the impacts, in addition to an event detector for the result analysis.

Atualmente a segurança da informação tem sido uma preocupação constante das diversas instituições e países que utilizam recursos computacionais para comunicação e oferecimento de serviços. Métodos de proteção e contramedidas para redes tradicionais são conhecidos e comumente utilizados, tais como firewalls e detectores de intrusões. Para os sistemas de controle e aquisição de dados (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition SCADA) não é diferente. Nos primórdios tais sistemas eram baseados em mainframes e arquitetura fechada, ou seja, dependentes dos fabricantes e consequentemente isolados de outros sistemas. Nos dias atuais os sistemas SCADA estão convergindo cada vez mais para plataformas baseadas em sistemas abertos e com a sua arquitetura fortemente apoiada em conectividade; sendo assim é usual a interligação de tais sistemas com a rede corporativa e em alguns casos com a própria internet. Partindo desse problema e com o atual desenvolvimento tecnológico em que se encontra a área de segurança da informação, é proposta uma metodologia para implantação de sistemas de automação em plantas de tratamento de água com ênfase em segurança e focada em sistemas industriais, utilizando as normas de segurança em automação ISA 99. Adicionalmente é proposto um mecanismo de análise e identificação de eventos maliciosos tendo por base o entendimento do fluxograma e etapas de uma planta de tratamento de água. Nesse sentido, os objetivos do presente trabalho são, em suma, estudar as normas, métodos e metodologias de segurança em sistemas industriais com foco em tratamento de água e propor uma metodologia cujo foco seja a minimização dos riscos de segurança. Para isso é proposto a avaliação de três cenários reais de tratamento de água para que assim seja possível simular os parâmetros de criticidade identificados no fluxograma e etapas do tratamento de água. Para tanto, desenvolveu-se um cenário conectado ao PLC que permitiu simular o comportamento e os impactos, além de um detector de eventos para análise dos resultados. / Currently, information security is a constant concern of the several institutions and countries that use computing resources for communication and service offering purposes. Protection methods and countermeasures for traditional networks such as firewalls and intrusion detectors are known and ordinarily used. The same goes for control systems and data acquisition (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition - SCADA). In the beginning, such systems were based on mainframes and closed architecture, i.e., dependent on manufacturers and consequently isolated from other systems. Nowadays, the SCADA systems converge more and more to platforms based on open systems, with its architecture strongly relied on connectivity; thus, it is usual the interconnection of such systems with the corporate network and, in some cases, with Internet itself. From this issue, and with the current technology development in the information security area, a methodology is proposed to implement automation systems in water treatment plants with an emphasis on security, and focused on industrial systems, using automation safety rules ISA 99. The purpose of this essay is, in brief, to study safety rules, methods and methodologies for industrial systems with a focus on water treatment, and to propose a methodology directed to the minimization of safety hazards. For that purpose, it is proposed the evaluation of three water treatment real scenarios so that it is possible to simulate criticality parameters identified in the flow chart and stages of the water treatment. Therefore, a scenario connected to PLC was developed, allowing the simulation of the behavior and the impacts, in addition to an event detector for the result analysis.

About 97% of Taiwan¡¦s businesses are small to medium enterprises, and the majority of which are categorized as the traditional industries. Small to medium business enterprises of the traditional industry has made significant contribution to Taiwan¡¦s economic miracle. Although in recent years, high-tech industries have become leaders in the whole economy, material changes have occurred in the economic structure. We have also observed changes in the overall economic environment, the impact of internationalization and globalization are the main reasons. But, we wish to see the industry continue to grow; we do not wish to see the rise of some industries while others fade. Hence, current status are studies and researched in detail, hope that some valuable recommendations can be made. Stability and growth has always been the key issue for all business management. Small business enterprises are naturally in a poor position for resource. Faced with the rapid changes in the internal and external environments and fierce competition, small business enterprises often fall into a stagnant situation that bottlenecks growth. In order to break out of its stagnant situation, business strategies and directions must be adjusted. Small businesses must also develop toward high economic value, such that growth targets can be achieved. During its growth process, due to changes in the environment, understanding of internal resources and capabilities, shows speed, flexibility and responsiveness. The best growth strategy suitable to the business enterprise needs to be developed and implemented. Resources at hand and advantages should be strengthened, business competitiveness enhanced and promote synergy, so that the business may continue to grow and prosper. Hence, small businesses should develop its business environment with a predictive management style. It should grasp the trends of the industry, predict its future and actively accumulate resources and should not have too many passive responses to uncontrollable environments. Leaders needs to continuously think about the current status of the business enterprise, what should be done, what can be done, and how. The business enterprise will gradually shift its business focus, avoid competition and adapt to external environment, so that synergic effects can result from integration of advantageous resources. This study is a qualitative study. It attempts to investigate a business growth model for small business enterprises. In search of the growth strategy of the case study enterprise, business leaders were interviewed in depth, and the growth pattern of the business enterprise was observed from the perspective of its business operations. Chapter 1 of the study introduces the backgrounds, motivation, objectives, process and scope of the study. In chapter 2, literature review, theories of business management, growth strategy, resource-based view, industrial network relationship and strategic alliance were reviewed. The research methodology and design are reported in chapter 3, describing the conceptual framework, research methods, design and limitations. Having drawn the theoretical profile of the study, secondary data were used in chapter 4 to investigate the characteristics of small to medium business enterprises in Taiwan and their current status. The industry of the case study enterprise, its development history and relationship analysis, profile of the case study enterprise were reported. In chapter 5, the study attempts to verify the theory with in-depth interview. In addition to many visits to and observation of the case study enterprise, the factors that affect the growth of the small businesses are analyzed. Finally, the key factors of growth strategy for small business enterprises are: 1. focused scope of operation, hold onto niche market, 2. establish industrial network or clustering effect, 3. develop human capital, ensure customer and employee value, 4. accumulate strategic resources, develop core competence, 5. make use of resource leverage, expand synergy, 6. organization reengineering and change, integrate and enhance business capabilities. The 6 strategic factors must support leadership characteristics as the core of growth strategy. The growth model for small businesses are also developed.

Industrial Networks and Foreign Direct Investment: The Study of Taiwan¡¦s Steel Industry Abstract Facing the changing environment, many Taiwan businesses try to achieve economy of scale and develop their markets by taking foreign direct investment (FDI), especially under poor macroeconomic conditions in Taiwan and the driving force of cheap costs from developing countries. Conventionally, it is considered that big firms take FDI to bring their specific advantages into foreign markets. From the view of industrial networks, FDI is a method for firms to set up a linkage with foreign networks. They need not establish foreign networks by themselves. They can establish and utilize foreign networks through FDI. The steel industry is capital and technology intensive, and with high entry barriers in nature. The industrial networks are very important to a steel firm because it is very difficult to attain all the production resources. The key success factor is the competence to grasp the production resources so as to obtain cost advantages and synergy. In the past decade, facing lack of labor, increasing land cost, and market pull, the down-stream firms took FDI dramatically. The middle- and up-stream firms are also eager to do so. Because of the huge investment scale and other limitations, it is not easy for upstream firms to take FDI. Even China Steel Corporation (CSC) has overcome a lot of obstacles in the past decade and finally acquired ORNA Steel in Malaysia to establish a bridgehead in Southeastern Asia. From the view of industrial networks, this study tries, first, to investigate the network change of the firms of Taiwan¡¦s steel industry after taking FDI, and next examine the change of competitiveness and ways of attaining profit. We construct a model which divides them into four types of firms and their ways of attaining profits. They are: flagship type industry/profit sharing, clan type industry/profit shifting, lone knight type industry/profit capturing, stragglers type industry/profit disappearing. Then, we use this model to examine cases of Taiwan¡¦s up, middle, and down stream steel industry in a dynamic way. Finally, we propose some recommendations for the government and steel industry to improve the competitiveness of the steel industry.